Pauline Wambui, online entrepreneur
Every day Pauline Wambui Mbugua would sell her bananas at a roadside stall, earning just enough to put food on the table.
Then she joined Hand in Hand’s accelerator programme and learned how to use What’s App for business. Immediately, Pauline posted every item of produce she had and that, says Pauline is, “when things started to get better”. Her first online sale of bananas went for KSH 12,000 (US $82), avocadoes now sell for up to KSH 120 (US $0.82) per kilo, almost four times what she could earn at the market, and she now sells the macadamia nuts directly the Kenya Nut Company.
Pauline says, “I didn’t get to complete my high school education…[but] joining Hand in Hand really helped me… [they] helped me plan my farm…and now I know selling online is better as compared to local sales.”
Next case study: Meet Gloria, the former refugee growing crops – and profits